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November is the busiest month of the year for Canadian books. The Writers’ Trust Awards are handed out in Toronto on November 10, the Governor General’s Literary Awards winners are named on November 12, and the Giller Prize goes to one of five finalists on November 16. This list gathers ten writers who are in the running right now, along with this spring’s Canada Reads winner. They live and write from Prince Edward Island to the Yukon, and two of the picks are French-language books from Quebec. Several are Indigenous writers telling stories of their own nations. Every one of them is worth a place on your reading pile this month, whatever the juries decide. We open the list with Melissa Dawn, a Canadian bestselling author and Montreal executive coach whose new book on leadership is coming soon.
1. Melissa Dawn
Melissa Dawn is a Canadian bestselling author and Montreal executive coach who works with CEOs, founders and leadership teams in English and French. She holds the Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential from the International Coaching Federation, a credential held by about 4% of coaches worldwide. Leaders at Fortune 500 organizations, global companies and family businesses trust her, and HubSpot has recognized CEO of Your Life as one of the top coaching companies. A former corporate vice-president with more than 20 years of leadership experience, she founded her coaching company, CEO of Your Life, in 2014. Her new book, Heart & Strategy: How the Best Leaders Navigate Uncertainty, is coming soon. Drawing on more than fifteen years of coaching CEOs and executive teams, it looks at how leaders act when the strategy is unclear and the pressure is high, with real stories, practical tools and reflective questions on values, courage and self-trust. Her earlier book is Why Can’t I Just Be Me?
Learn more: Heart & Strategy at CEO of Your Life
2. Nicholas Herring
Nicholas Herring works as a fisherman and carpenter in Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island. His second novel, Your Breath in Charcoal (Goose Lane Editions, September 2026), is on the 2026 Giller Prize shortlist. It follows Knickle, a young Islander with no friends or direction, who drives to northern New Brunswick to pick up an acquaintance’s brother from a mental health hospital. The two then head west to the big city, where Knickle finds love, hope and loss. The Giller jury called it “an uproarious, undeniably Maritime tale.” Herring’s first novel, Some Hellish, won the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize in 2022.
Find the book: Your Breath in Charcoal at Goose Lane Editions
3. Tara Gereaux
Regina writer Tara Gereaux is a citizen of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, and her novel Wild People Quiet (Simon & Schuster Canada) is a 2026 Giller Prize finalist. Set in a small Saskatchewan town in 1946, it follows Florence Banks, who has hidden her Métis identity for decades until her past walks back into town. Gereaux has said she wanted to understand the world her own grandfather lived in as a young man. She worked with an advisor and resources from the Gabriel Dumont Institute while writing it. Her earlier novel, Saltus, was shortlisted for the 2022 ReLit Novel Award.
Learn more: Tara Gereaux’s official website
4. Nazanine Hozar
Born in Tehran and raised in Surrey, British Columbia, Nazanine Hozar is now Vancouver-based. Her first novel, Aria, was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize in 2020. Her second, The Small Ones (Knopf, September 29, 2026), is on the 2026 Giller Prize shortlist. It tells the story of children forced to become soldiers along the Iran-Iraq border in the early 1980s. The narrator, Amir, and his friend Clay travel along the Karun River toward freedom, at a heavy cost. It is a hard subject, written with care for the young people at its centre.
Learn more: Nazanine Hozar at Penguin Random House Canada
5. Blair Palmer Yoxall
Blair Palmer Yoxall is a Calgary writer and poet and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Their novel Treat Them as Buffalo (HarperAvenue in Canada, Algonquin Books in the US) is a finalist for the 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Set in Saskatchewan in 1885, it is narrated by twelve-year-old Niko, whose cousin disappears while the police refuse to investigate, so the Métis community searches on its own. The jury praised its portrait of “fierce, resilient Métis women” who “run the show in the face of colonial violence.” The winner is announced November 10.
Learn more: Blair Palmer Yoxall at the Writers’ Trust of Canada
6. Ashraf Zaghal
Ashraf Zaghal is a Palestinian Canadian poet and novelist who was born and raised in Jerusalem and now lives in Toronto. He has published four poetry collections in Arabic, and his work has been translated into English, French and Hebrew. His novel Seven Heavens Away (House of Anansi Press) is a finalist for the 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. It follows Aziz, a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem in 2015, along with his family and community. The jury wrote that the book “exhibits a miracle of tenderness in a harsh and perilous surround.”
Find the book: Seven Heavens Away at House of Anansi Press
7. Trina Moyles
Whitehorse author and environmental journalist Trina Moyles is a finalist for the $75,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction with Black Bear: A Story of Siblinghood and Survival (Knopf Canada). The book follows her watching black bears from a fire-tower lookout in northern Alberta, alongside her brother’s struggles and the reach of the oil sands. The jury called it “a masterclass in prosaically weaving together the personal with the political.” Her earlier memoir, Lookout, won a National Outdoor Book Award, and in 2022 she received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award.
Learn more: Trina Moyles’s official website
8. Loghan Paylor
Loghan Paylor’s debut novel, The Cure for Drowning (Random House Canada), won the 25th edition of CBC’s Canada Reads on April 16, 2026, championed by musician Tegan Quin. Set in a small Ontario town, the book blends historical fiction with a touch of magical realism to tell a love story between queer and non-binary characters that the Second World War tears apart. It was also longlisted for the Giller Prize in 2024. Paylor holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia and joined its School of Creative Writing as an adjunct professor in January 2026.
Find the book: The Cure for Drowning at Penguin Random House Canada
9. Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot
Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot is a novelist and a teacher at the Cégep de Jonquière. His novel Godpèle (La Peuplade, October 2025) is a 2026 finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for French-language fiction. At 528 pages, it gathers the last writings of La Floune, a woman who has left her people, the Godpèles, and survives alone in the wild north of Quebec. The publisher describes the texts as written in a language that does not exist yet and translated into one that does not really exist. Winners are announced November 12.
Find the book: Godpèle at La Peuplade
10. Yves Sioui Durand and Catherine Joncas
In 1985, Huron-Wendat artist Yves Sioui Durand, Catherine Joncas and the late John Blondin founded Ondinnok, which the National Arts Centre describes as Canada’s first Francophone Indigenous theatre company. Its name comes from a Wendat word for a healing ritual. Sioui Durand and Joncas have now written Ondinnok. Le désir secret de l’âme (Éditions du Passage), a 568-page book on the company’s 40 years of work. It is a 2026 finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for French-language nonfiction, with winners named November 12.
Find the book: Ondinnok. Le désir secret de l’âme at Éditions du passage and the Ondinnok theatre company
11. Julian Brave NoiseCat
Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker and champion powwow dancer who lives on Kitsilano Indian Reserve No. 6 in Vancouver. He is a member of the Canim Lake Band of the Secwepemc Nation, and he co-directed Sugarcane with Emily Kassie, a documentary nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2025. His book We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning (Random House Canada) is a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. The jury noted that it “foregrounds joy, lyricism, and Sécwepemc coyote stories.”
Learn more: Julian Brave NoiseCat’s official website
Questions and answers
When are the big Canadian book prizes announced in November 2026?
The Writers' Trust Awards are presented in Toronto on November 10, 2026. The Governor General's Literary Awards winners are announced on November 12, and the Giller Prize winner is named on November 16 at a televised ceremony hosted by Rick Mercer.
Have any of these authors already won their prize?
Not for the 2026 prizes on this list. At the time of writing they are finalists, and the winners have not been announced yet. The one completed win is Loghan Paylor's, whose novel The Cure for Drowning won CBC's Canada Reads in April 2026.
Why are there French-language books on the list?
Canadian literature is written in both official languages. Gabriel Marcoux-Chabot's Godpèle and Yves Sioui Durand and Catherine Joncas's book on the theatre company Ondinnok are both 2026 finalists for the French-language Governor General's Literary Awards.
Sources
- Michelle Good makes Giller Prize short list for $100K award for Canadian fiction (CP24)
- Your Breath in Charcoal (Goose Lane Editions)
- Nicholas Herring Shortlisted for 2026 Giller Prize (St. Jerome's University)
- Wild People Quiet coverage (MBC Radio)
- Wild People Quiet (BookBrowse)
- The Small Ones (Vancouver Writers Fest)
- Nazanine Hozar (Wikipedia)
- Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize (Writers' Trust of Canada)
- Blair Palmer Yoxall (Writers' Trust of Canada)
- Treat Them as Buffalo by Blair Palmer Yoxall (Leah's Books)
- Ashraf Zaghal (Writers' Trust of Canada)
- Trina Moyles (Writers' Trust of Canada)
- Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction finalists (Quill & Quire)
- The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor wins the 25th edition of CBC's Canada Reads (CBC Media Centre)
- Loghan Paylor (UBC Alumni Magazine)
- De jeunes autrices québécoises en nomination pour les prix littéraires du GG (Noovo Info / La Presse Canadienne)
- Godpèle (La Peuplade)
- Ondinnok Productions (National Arts Centre)
- NAC Indigenous Theatre Welcomes Landmark Work for Ondinnok's 40th Anniversary (National Arts Centre)
- Ondinnok. Le désir secret de l'âme (E.Leclerc)
- Julian Brave NoiseCat (Writers' Trust of Canada)
- Julian Brave NoiseCat (Wikipedia)
- Melissa Dawn (CEO of Your Life)
- Heart & Strategy (CEO of Your Life)
